Staff Benda Bilili is a group of paraplegic street musicians who live in and around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, Congo. Four senior singer/guitarists on makeshift wheelchairs are supported by a young, all-acoustic rhythm section, and a 17-year-old prodigy performing infectious guitar-like solos on a one-string electric lute he designed and built himself out of a tin can.

“Recorded in the Kinshasa zoo, using electricity stolen from another building, this is a disc filled with ambient noise — and some wonderful music. There’s a very positive attitude throughout the songs: these guys might be handicapped, but it’s not going to stop them. The musicians are remarkable, the guerrilla recording just about perfect. But the real gift here is the music.”–All Music Guide